Man wants city to pay after officer's stray bullet damages his car

A Brush police officer shot four times at a Staffordshire Terrier resembling the one pictured. One of those shots hit Tyrone Whipple's car and caused $1,700 in damage to it. (Wikimedia Commons)

In August, a Brush police officer fired four shots at a dog after it allegedly became aggressive when he approached it outside a home on Custer Street. Tyrone Whipple lives at that home and says that one of those shots hit the back of his car, causing $1,700 in damage to it.

Whipple says he and his wife were temporarily taking care of the dog, which belongs to his stepdaughter, and that the incident was the product of a "misunderstanding" as the officer mistakenly believed the dog was one of two dogs that had been responsible for the killing of several animals in Brush earlier in August. Whipple now wants the city's insurer to pay the full cost of those damages as he says the city's insurance provider has told him that he was not "at fault" in the incident.

Whipple said the incident occurred on Aug. 27, when his stepdaughter's dog broke out of the fence in Whipple's back yard and the dog went over to his next door neighbor's yard. That neighbor, unaware that Whipple was watching the dog, called Brush code enforcement.

Whipple said the neighbor told code enforcement that he thought the dog was one of the pit bulls responsible for the livestock attacks in the neighborhood. Brush police officers had recently gone around the neighborhood to warn residents about those pit bulls.

Whipple said his stepdaughter's dog is a Staffordshire Terrier, a breed of pit bull. However, the offending pit bulls had actually already been found and impounded by the Morgan County Sheriff's Office on Aug. 25.

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According to Whipple, the dog then walked across the street into another neighbor's yard. That neighbor shooed him back across the street. Whipple says he has been told there were eight or nine people on the street at the time and the dog was "not aggressive toward them."

Whipple said it is his understanding that the dog was trying to get back into Whipple's yard when the police officer arrived. Whipple said he has been told the dog did become aggressive and "try to protect itself" by "coming at the officer" as he approached. The officer fired four shots at it. Whipple said one of those shots hit the back of his car and then ricocheted through a fish tank next to his house.

Whipple said that he then came out of the house and told the officer that the dog was not one of the dogs involved in the attack. He was then able to put the dog away in his yard.

When asked for details about the situation, Brush Police Chief Travis Anderson said "I really can't discuss it because it is an active case with pending charges." Anderson declined to say who the charges could be filed against.

When asked if the officer who fired the shots was still employed by the Brush Police Department, Anderson said that question was "not pertinent to the investigation" and did not answer. However, Brush Mayor Chuck Schonberger said the officer was still on the force as "he hadn't heard anything different."

Anderson said the department "has a procedure" for investigating incidents in which an officer has discharged a firearm but did not go into further details.

Whipple said he later spoke with the officer about the damage to his car. The officer told him to contact the city, which then directed Whipple to its insurance company.

Whipple said he found out about a month after the incident that the insurance company had agreed to pay his deductible of $1,000. He was also told that the city has governmental immunity from "claims of injury."

"I spoke with [Bruce] McKinney who is with the city's insurance company and he said that I wasn't at fault but the city has a governmental immunity policy," he said.

Whipple asked the city to consider paying his full claim in spoken remarks he gave at the Sept. 25 city council meeting. Whipple told the council he is looking to change insurance companies as his wife was recently diagnosed with multiple myloma. He said he is concerned he will be quoted higher rates as a result of the incident.

"I am just asking if [you] would reconsider and pay the claim," he said. "If they were going pay $1,000 then I feel $700 more isn't that much."

Brush Assistant City Manager Karen Schminke said that such claims are immediately turned over to the city's insurance provider and handled through them. Schminke said it is "not normal practice" for claimants to bring such concerns to the council.

Whipple said that the city's insurance provider has since notified him that it will only pay the $1,000 deductible.

But Whipple said the incident could now end up costing him significantly more than $700. On October 4, 39 days after the shooting incident, an officer came to the school where Whipple works to serve him a dog at-large summons.

Whipple said he spoke with Anderson and Brush police Lt. Corey Hardy and was told that such a lengthy period between an incident and a citation was "standard procedure."

"They said the reason why it took so long is they gave the direction for the summons to be written and it didn't get done," Whipple said.

However, Whipple said he doesn't think it is right of the city to issue him a citation so long after the incident took place and questions why they are now doing so.

"I feel like it should've been taken care of," he said.

Whipple said he had had an informal conversation with Brush police officers at the Pedal the Plains events in Brush who had been joking with him about the incident and said they gave no indication that such a citation could be forthcoming. Whipple said the police report about the incident also did not appear to find fault with him for having a "dangerous dog."

When Whipple addressed the council on Sept. 25, he told them that he had not found any fault with the police department, itself.

"I have no fault against [the officer] or the police department," he said. "They have been supportive of me and my family during this incident."

However, Whipple said he has now changed his tune following the issuance of the citation. He said has hired a civil rights attorney and plans to fight it. He also said he has also learned that the city's insurance company may have been obligated to inform him about its "governmental immunity" at the time it told him to go get the estimates and failed to do so.

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